A North Korean naval vessel briefly violated the inter-Korean border in the Yellow Sea Sunday in an attempt to seize Chinese fishing boats but turned back after a radio warning from South Korea, officials said.
"A North Korean patrol boat breached the NLL by a mile … at 1:36 p.m. (0436 GMT) on Sunday to crack down on illegal Chinese fishing boats," the Joint Chiefs of Staff office said in a statement.
"But it returned northward after a radio warning by our navy ship."
The NLL is the Northern Limit Line, the maritime border between the two Koreas that have remained technically at war since the 1950-1953 Korean War ended in a fragile armistice.
Previous sea border violations have sparked bloody naval skirmishes, with dozens of casualties reported on both sides since 1999. The last clash in June 2002 left six South Korean sailors dead.
In efforts to prevent such clashes the two Koreas this month established their first military hotline, on top of radio communications between the navies of both sides.
The two Koreas have taken several peace initiatives since a 2000 summit between their leaders.
